A Reindeer's Journey

This film has the potential to enthrall even those viewers who don't normally enjoy nature documentaries. It does so through a combination of gorgeous aerial and on-the-ground cinematography matched with an engaging narration that translates the animal world for humans. Voiced by Donald Sutherland, the omniscient narrator takes you by the hand and gently, knowingly guides you into the reindeer's world, explaining what the animals are thinking and doing and feeling. He transfers human sentiments to their kingdom in a poetic, almost philosophical way. "Do you think this world is tough?" he prods. "You're right." But it's worth living another day to experience all that life has to offer.

There's suspense: Will Ailo survive his precarious first year in the face of incessant dangers, will the wolverines attack the vulnerable domesticated reindeer, will the wolf pack catch the wild reindeer? There's also humor: Ailo mimicking the actions of a rabbit, the narrator describing the tasty lemming as the "chicken nugget of the Arctic." And there's stunning beauty in Lapland's frozen landscape, its prophetic northern lights, the fjords where the sea "carves the mountains like lace," the vast and varied animal kingdom. You can't help but wonder how the filmmakers managed to meld into this closed ecosystem and track the animals so closely, but you'll be very glad they did. In addition to A Reindeer's Journey's subtle ecological message, Ailo's fight for survival has important lessons for us all.